Hey all, I'm exited to join this forum

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Hey everyone, my name is Matt and I'm just getting into watch repair. I'm on the younger side at 23 but I've been wearing and overall interested in mechanical watches for about 9 years.

I recently brought some nicer watches to a watchmaker for estimates, and the cost for a clean was about 4x the value of my favorite Vostoks so I decided to take the dive and order tools and some junk watches.

While waiting for the junkers from Ukraine to arrive, I partially took apart a Seiko 5 s726 and got it back together in no worse shape than it was before. I think it may be magnetized so I guess a new tool needs to be ordered .

I'm looking forward to being on a forum, its been a few years since i've been a part of a forum community!

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Hi And welcome A demagnetiser is easy to make or there are plenty of chinese ones about depending on how you want to do it, I am at the other end of the spectrum 70 + and been doing this as a hobby for more years than I like to admit. This forum is full of good advise and many skilfull members just enjoy the experience

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Hi And welcome A demagnetiser is easy to make or there are plenty of chinese ones about depending on how you want to do it, I am at the other end of the spectrum 70 + and been doing this as a hobby for more years than I like to admit. This forum is full of good advise and many skilfull members just enjoy the experience

I went to school for computer engineering so i'm not too afraid of an electronics project, I wish radio shack was still around as I'm pretty impatient with waiting for parts. From what I understand, it's just a coil producing a magnetic field and you slowly pull the watch away to demagnetize. It's been a little while since I did any EM calculations but it'd be a fun side project.

Also, the way I see it, the field needs some young blood to keep these time pieces going. I hope I can learn a lot from the more experienced folks.

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Hi Ex Computer engineer my self (mainframes).. right on basicaly thats all it is but requires fuse , switch etc. when removing the watch from the magnetic field move it away to a distance of three feet whilst keeping the button depressed then release. I use an old voice coil from an old disc drive ( a hollow coil on a paxolin tube (old eh) and an old Vdu transformer down to 12V output it works well and it was cheap and de mags all the tools as wll

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Hi Ex Computer engineer my self (mainframes).. right on basicaly thats all it is but requires fuse , switch etc. when removing the watch from the magnetic field move it away to a distance of three feet whilst keeping the button depressed then release. I use an old voice coil from an old disc drive ( a hollow coil on a paxolin tube (old eh) and an old Vdu transformer down to 12V output it works well and it was cheap and de mags all the tools as wll

Thanks for the advice, I'll research into it a bit.

I love talking to the veterans of the industry.

A bit of a story, I was at a train museum with a girlfriend, she was studying EE at the time. An older gent dressed in full conductor garb comes over to talk about the steam engine. He asks us what we do/ study and she says EE, I say CE, so he jokingly starts talking only to her, asking her to explain it to me. He then asked about what kind of stuff we work on, so I start explaining in simple terms and he leans in and says "at what point do I tell him I helped designed the early IBM mainframes"

Damn was I embarrassed but I was very humbled. A lot has changed but not nearly enough that old and young can't find things to talk about.

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I bought four Vostoks from Ukraine on ebay and they finally arrived. Two are 2409a movements. The first night I took a look at the uglier of the two and pulled it apart aside from pulling the cannon pinion. I only lost one screw but I was able to get it back together. The fatal flaw of this watch seemed to be a bent hairspring but it was overall complete. With the bent hairspring, it did not want to run at all. The second 2409a movement had a good hairspring and really wanted to run, but the balance wheel jewel was missing so it only ran upside down.

I tore down the first movement again, knowing how it all goes together, and carefully submerged most of the components in some mineral spirits and brushed with a fine paint brush, blow dried them with the dust blower. I was considering taking the whole balance cock from the other movement and transferring the jewel, but then I decided to remove the hairspring+wheel from the cock and transfer the good one over. After the clean, oiling the jewels, and reinstalling the balance cock with the new hairspring, the watch took off and has been running very nicely for about two hours so far.

I haven't reattached the hands yet because I want to switch dials and case with the other movement. Sadly in cleaning up the face, I took off some of the "Boctok" logo and some second lines. I still like the dial but its not looking too good anymore.

Another small hitch, I use the TG timer program on my thinkpad and the mic on the display can pick up all my other watches, but for some reason can't get a fix on this watch so adjusting it to be accurate may need to be done at a later date.

Overall this experience was a huge confidence boost in both being able to take it apart without losing too many things, as well as remembering where all the parts go. I did however, have a small gear from the keyless works pop up and end up on the top of the back rest of my chair. I was looking all over for that thing and was about to give up before seeing it. Amazing, the magic that sends these parts into wacky places.

Posts

Hi All
I'm a beginner. I've finally competed my Seiko 6119A in a Seiko 5. I now notice that the second hand tube is quite long. It's not sliding down the shaft with moderate pressure. How had should I push? Is there a trick to this?
Thank you

Hello guys,
I have some problem with my seiko 7015 speedtimer that i bought 2 days ago..
This seiko runs smoothly when chronograph off
And when the chronograph is active,the watch runs for awhile and then stop..
Whats wrong with it and maybe you guys can help me with some solution please!!
thanks

Hi Len
thank you for the detailed reply. I tried a 329 today and unfortunately did not work. As you explained before it looks like the rotor is ocillating back and forth (the second hand moves forward and backwards).
Its heartbreaking to see as i was hoping to fix it and give back to my grandfather.
is there anyway i can source the part or an alternative movement (does not have to be Omega) that will fit the dial and casing?Although not ideal as takes away from the integrity and beauty of the watch but would love to able to get it working one way or the other so my grandfather can wear it on the wrist again.
any help would be much appreciated
regards
57253616986__A7C2CEC7-1ACC-483F-933C-D73C742B77C7.MOV

Another Swatch rescued from the junk pile. This one had a couple of obvious issues.

The leather band was filthy, heavily kinked, and stiff as a board. So much so that had to be scrubbed with detergent, dried, and some leather restoration work carried out.
The watch itself however, as well as the usual heavily scratched crystal had an electro-machanical issue. When I popped in a brand new battery, the second hand would move for a bit, then falter.
This turned out to be a combination of slight corrosion on the spring contact for the battery, and the fact that someone had previously run the watch with a tiny button cell, wedged in place with some scrunched up paper, which had bent the sprung battery contact. A little very careful re-bending and off it went like a champ.
This illustrates the point nicely, that even a little extra resistance in the battery contacts can be enough to stop a quartz movement, or make it behave erratically.
The band took a little more effort. Once dried, following its bath, it became obvious that the original uniform kid leather look was long gone, so I went for a more vintage finish, with a little blending of the very worn patches using the leather dye in some dark tan shoe polish, combined with some lighter "Clarks Shoes" branded leather restoration cream.
I only needed a hint of the dark tan, since I didn't want to end up with a brown shoes effect, simply to shine up the worn patches, and blend them with the existing colour.

Several thin coats of leather cream mixed with a little dark tan, and much buffing later and the strap is back to its original soft calfskin feel, rather than dry as a stick. All of the holes are the same size again.
The band forms a gentle curve, rather than being corrugated, and the stitching is clean. The band looks ten times better than when it arrived. This is yet another member of the "404 Club", since it was effectively free with a bunch of other junk, I picked up which was purchased because it included a mechanical watch that I have yet to restore, all for under the magic £4.04